Internet
in Havana.. Good or Bad
When
I am in Havana I have a sense of freedom from the web, since I definitely do
not want Wi-Fi piped into my house. And Cubans love to visit and talk and my
house, which is centrally located, is never short of visitors.
This
morning I went to the parquet two short blocks away to check on my mail and
messages. The Sunday Morning was quiet and there were fewer people in the park
than normal.
The
connection speed and clarity was good as it was to become evident, as I received
the first of the telephone calls this morning.
My
sister is worried about a patient in Jamaica who has been given the diagnosis
of Lymphoma and I had to calm her telling that it is not a death sentence as
people believe it to be, but I need more information on the pathology. As she
had to come from Jamaica and handle of some of the financial burden of
treatment, an additional burden on my sisters shoulders.
I
was checking my mail when she called me to find out whether I had organized an
appointment for an Ophthalmologist at BPEI, at UM, one of the best eye
institutes in USA. She shares my dislike of eye doctors especially ODs in
private practice whose eyes seem to glean at the silver dollar than the
necessity for retinal scans on a healthy patient. My good friend and doctor MW
organized it quickly and that left my sister very happy.
On
these accounts, to have Wi-Fi connection and telephone calls through whatsApp
was certainly a blessing.
Then
came another call, this time from a good friend in Cochin.
Receiving
and making calls from Cuba until quite recently (when Chavez connected Cuba to
the Internet through a cable), was a surrealistic experience that affected your
mind and your wallet. Once I was surprised when I checked my telephone bill in
Miami to find that a single call to Havana had cost me 125 dollars, bringing
the monthly total to over 500 dollars. Those days are over thanks to Chavez and
Obama even though I am hearing about cyber attacks on the fledgling web system
of Cuba where they try to provide the same service to every one
The
next call was from Fort Cochin from a dear friend who wants some advice about
starting a clinic (free or near free) in Nellspruit in South Africa. We
discussed the humanitarian medical efforts of Cuba and that I would look into
getting some aid from this end. We had a nice and long chat which until
recently wouldn’t have been possible and to think that it was totally free!
